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Crematory visit fails to ease concerns

Neighbors of a proposed crematory in Largo are still afraid the facility will lower property values.

By SHANNON TAN
Published September 11, 2005

ORLANDO - There are no outward signs that the one-story building at 400 Woodlawn Cemetery Road is anything but offices for the adjacent funeral home.

The facility sits in a neighborhood that also houses a middle school, gated subdivisions and a massive Mormon temple.

But inside, the signs point to something different.

When visitors from Largo arrived on a bus Wednesday to take a tour, they were greeted by a man in a white coat.

Two cremations are taking place right now, he said.

After facing vocal opposition from residents living near a proposed crematory at Serenity Gardens in Largo, SCI Florida Funeral Services offered to take Largo city commissioners, staff and residents on a tour of one of their crematories in Orlando to show them that a crematory could coexist with a residential neighborhood.

The 3,500-square-foot building has two cremation units and can store up to 60 bodies. Since opening in February, the facility has processed 860 bodies.

During the tour, operating manager Tom Knight took visitors into a room where families can watch the casket being loaded into the cremation unit. Families can say a final goodbye to their loved ones in a separate room.

Next, he showed his office, where paperwork is processed. An impressive-looking control panel covered in buttons and lights helps him monitor the cremation process.

Whirring fans circulated air in the cremation room where two Super Power-Pak II Cremators operate. The flashing red numbers hovered around 1,675 degrees, the temperature inside the cremation chamber.

An optical scanner checks the stacks for visible emissions. If the scanner detects particulate matter, the cremation unit goes into pollution control mode for three minutes. Knight will temporarily turn the burners off if the problem is due to elevated temperatures.

Commissioner Jean Halvorsen, who went on the tour Wednesday, said she thought the facility was "great."

"The equipment takes care of itself," she said. "It's so sophisticated."

But Largo resident Robyn Dalton, who lives near the proposed crematory at Serenity Gardens, said she still has concerns.

"Like secondhand smoke, I don't think anybody's going to know for 10 to 15 years what, if any, particulate matter is expelled into the air, and what that will do to us," she said.

Dalton wonders if her property values will be affected by the presence of a crematory. She pointed out that the Orlando crematory is set farther back from the homes across the two-lane road than the proposed Largo facility will be.

Carol Miles, wife of the late commissioner James S. "Jim" Miles, said her home, across the street from the proposed crematory, is her biggest asset.

The property appraiser might not reduce the appraised value but that doesn't mean the buyer will pay the same amount, she said.

"I don't want it where it detracts from my property or makes my property difficult to sell," said Miles.

She said the Orlando facility was well-run and managed. "I can't see a biohazard," but she still worried about a drop in her property values.

The market value of houses on Woodlawn Cemetery Road in Orlando ranges from $201,611 for a home furnished with a pool and fireplace to $281,776 for a home with a boat dock and fireplace, according to the Orange County property appraiser's Web site.

John Kasper, an engineer with the Orange County Environmental Protection division, said he hasn't received any complaints about the crematory.

Kasper said he met with half a dozen residents living near the Woodlawn Cemetery to address their initial concerns about visible smoke and odor. "If a crematory is operating properly, there should be no smoke or odor," he told them.

Les Dyer, past president of the Cremation Association of North America, is a consultant for the Orlando crematory and the proposed 13,177-square-foot Serenity Gardens Central Care Facility.

He said 70 percent of crematories are built in residential areas.

But many residents who live near Serenity Gardens say a crematory belongs in an industrial area.

Resident Gerald Flanagan has helped collect more than 500 signatures from neighbors opposing the project. Residents have also chipped in a "substantial" amount for a legal fund to defeat the crematory, he said.

"Everybody has major concerns about it," Flanagan said, citing property values and environmental risks.

The proposed building would have three crematories totaling 5,600 square feet, a refrigeration unit and an area where bodies are prepared for burial.

The city recently hired a consultant to study the impact a crematory like the one proposed at Serenity Gardens would have on the surrounding neighborhood.

The consultant will research Pinellas County and state requirements for permitting crematories, and review studies and pending regulations affecting such facilities. The study is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.

A final site plan for the project has yet to be submitted. Because the crematory is an allowable use on the property, city staff - not the Planning Board or City Commission - will decide how the facility should be built.

Shannon Tan can be reached at shtan@sptimes.com or 445-4174.

[Last modified September 11, 2005, 01:12:29]